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It's supposed to show that the Tesla car is structurally sound and prevented the object on the road from ripping further into the car than it otherwise would ha
by michaeldhopkins 13y ago
It's supposed to show that the Tesla car is structurally sound and prevented the object on the road from ripping further into the car than it otherwise would have. It's also supposed to show that the car got the driver out of a dangerous situation by displaying warnings early. Finally, it is supposed to show that the car is resilient when bad things happen because it is still drivable.
I'm just explaining the viewpoint of the letter since you were unsure. I'm not opining that it is effective/ineffective or productive/counterproductive.
- threeseed 13y agoAnd what would happen if the person was rendered unconscious during an accident ? I think the point is still valid that the safety features are nice but the core issue is that the car burst into flames during a seemingly minor accident.
- ricardobeat 13y agoRunning over a trailer hitch at 70mph is a major accident. A smaller, lighter car could have been thrown off the road or rolled over, in addition to having the object puncture and invade the passenger compartment possibly causing injury, and loss of control. You're right in that it would be unlikely to cause a fire, though I wouldn't really worry about that if I was dead already.
- timr 13y ago"A smaller, lighter car could have been thrown off the road or rolled over, in addition to having the object puncture and invade the passenger compartment possibly causing injury, and loss of control." ...or maybe not. You're just speculating. I've run over stuff at high speeds in other cars, and I"m here to tell you that they didn't flip over, puncture, or burst into flames. The most common outcome, in my experience, is that the oil pan or transmission pan gets dented, and starts to leak.
- drabiega 13y agoThe underside of a Tesla is quite a bit more sturdy than your oil or transmission pans. A piece of debris able to do this would do something far more serious than cause a dent or leak.
- dredmorbius 13y agoThe principle difference is that the entire underside of a Tesla is vulnerable (to a first approximation), while a conventional vehicle has a few zones of particular sensitivity (fuel tank, oil pan, gas line, possibly drivetrain). I'm fairly impressed with Tesla's record so far, but mounting a half ton (literally) of energy storage to the entire underside does raise some interesting questions.
- moocowduckquack 13y agoCars do burst into flames though. There are around 194,000 vehicle fires on US roads each year from around 250,000,000 registered vehicles, which gives around 1 fire for every 1,300 vehicles. There are so far 3 Tesla fires from around 16,000 Tesla cars on US roads, which gives around 1 fire for every 5,300 of them, so they are doing better than the average. 3 fires though is still far too few to consider this a particularly useful statistic.
- aeturnum 13y agoIn order to determine how well the Tesla S handled these collisions, the stats you cited are useless. We should not count fires caused by types of accidents Telsas have never been involved in. Also, no one is accusing Tesla cars of bursting into flame for no reason, so the cars that are not in accidents aren't important either. To really understand where the Tesla ranks in safety, we would need a detailed analysis of: the accident, how non-Tesla cars handled similar accidents, how the Tesla is designed to handle such an accident. I do agree that we have no where near enough data to draw general conclusions about the safety of the Teslas, so I think it's inappropriate to say, "they are doing better[or worse] than the average."
- spitfire 13y agoNo it isn't. I've driven over a large rock cast off from an RV going 80mph in a little (2000lbs) sportscar made in the 1960's. There was a large bump, grinding sound and damage to the underfloor (you could poke your finger through). But in no way was it a major accident.
- URSpider94 13y agoPlease read my separate post about a very similar accident a decade ago that killed 6 children. I don't think anyone can make blanket statements about what is and isn't a serious accident.
- marcosdumay 13y agoI guess, it would happen the same thing that happened to the papers and pen at the gloves compartment.
- moistgorilla 13y agoThis isn't a good argument seeing as how papers and pens can't die from asphyxiation.
- dmak 13y agoI don't see how that is a minor accident. He said he felt the car fly up into the air.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- threeseed 13y agoA major accident for me is one in which cars drive oncoming to a semi trailer, hit a power pole at very high speed or multi car pileups. Something where no matter what type of car it is there is likely to be mass casualties and media coverage. Driving over something at highway cruising speed doesn't seem all that major to me.
- nitrogen 13y agoDriving over something at highway cruising speed doesn't seem all that major to me. It's major enough that, as other commenters have noted, it would rip apart the undercarriage of any smaller car, and possibly enter the cabin through the floor.
- 001sky 13y agoThis is wholly speculative. Floor pans are typically flexible steel. They are not puncture prone. As they are capable of deformatin (absorbs energy). The TSLA has 6mm armor plate, which is stiff and while strong is not tough. It is thus probably not good at disapating energy, so it takes the full brunt. You don't build a bumper out of 6mm armour plate. That being said, maybe TSLA just needs a V-hull to dissipate the force (by deflection, rather than absorbtion). That's how they made the military humvee more impact (blast) resistant, while keeping its armour in tact.
- Havoc 13y ago>maybe TSLA just needs a V-hull to dissipate the force (by deflection, rather than absorbtion). Vhulls are only useful for upwards blasts...short of IEDs showing up in California the concept is useless for a sportcar. Also...humvee doesn't have a vhull - prototypes aside. You're likely thinking of either the MRAP or some buffalo derivative.
- KevinEldon 13y agoIn this case the driver stated that the cabin was undamaged. He was able to remove his papers from the glove box. Smoke inhalation may have been dangerous, but in this case the fire didn't seem to a safety issue to the driver if he had been able to leave the vehicle.
- nu2ycombinator 13y agoSimilar kind of accident happened in India, only difference is the passengers there did not get enough time as escape from fires. Here is the link http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/45-killed-as-bus-goes-up-in-flames-on-hyderabadbangalore-highway/article5287797.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/45-killed-as-b...
- TylerE 13y agoNot real that similar....that bus took out a guardrail.
- nu2ycombinator 13y agoMy point is fire spreads fast and time to escape or no warning signs in other vehicles, where as Tesla has it designed well.
- chenster 13y agoA minor accident? Are you sure about that? Running over a trailer hitch at 70 miles an hour is no minor accident. It could be so munch uglier. The car could flips over, tires pop and loss control. In fact, the car continued to operate normally for another minute and stopped safely is quite amazing in that situation in my opinion.
- madaxe 13y agoYes, my petrol engine wakes me up with coffee whenever I'm unconscious.
- stcredzero 13y agoThey should make a C.O.R.A. plugin for the Tesla S onboard electronics. Heck, they should make a K.I.T.T.!